Click to enlarge.. March 30, 2010 - The smoking lamp will soon be out aboard all subs, according to the Navy’s top officer. “We’re going to stop smoking on submarines,” Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Gary Roughead told Navy Times on March 23.

The move is not yet official, so Lt. Cmdr. Mark Jones, a spokesman for Submarine Force, would say only that Vice Adm. John Donnelly “is examining the options of changing the policy of smoking in a submarine to improve the overall health of the entire crew.” Jones would not speculate on when a decision will be made, but a final order likely will come soon. The catalyst for change is the effect of second-hand smoke (shs, passive smoking, sidestream, involuntary, environmental tobacco smoke, ETS), on crew members who remain submerged for months at a time.

“That atmosphere moves around the submarine,” Roughead said. “You don’t smell it, but the damaging things from the smoke are still present.”